For I Was Hungry & You Gave Me Food: A Catholic Agenda for Action - Pursuing a More Just Agricultural System - Part 3

International Trade, Aid, and Development

Catholic teaching requires us to pay special attention to
our brothers and sisters who are suffering in extreme poverty around the world,
many of whom live in rural areas. We seek measures that address the needs and
interests of small farm owners and farmworkers—both overseas and in the United
States.

As a strategy for global poverty reduction, international
trade with developed nations, if guided by principles of justice, may do far
more for poor countries than all foreign aid. While we support targeted
subsidies and other programs for small and moderate-sized farms in the United
States (especially those most at risk), we also recognize that greater access
to local, regional, and international markets is essential for agricultural
development in poor countries. Current U.S. and European subsidies, supports,
tariffs, quotas, and other barriers that undermine market access for poorer
countries should be substantially reduced and should be focused on policies
that minimize the direct and indirect effects on prices of agricultural goods.
The process of reducing these trade barriers will not be easy. It must take
into account the time needed for farmers and farmworkers in developed countries
to adjust, while recognizing the need to reduce the negative effects of
agricultural trade barriers on struggling farmers in poor countries around the
world. Our goal should be to minimize harm to farmers caused by international
trade policies. We should assess all trade agreements, including the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), for their impact on farmers and
farmworkers.

We support the goal of free and equitable trade; however,
the poorest countries need appropriate flexibility to use protective measures
to safeguard food security and achieve income stability for their farmers and
farmworkers. It is important that trade agreements give impoverished nations an
opportunity to use protections when necessary, including tariffs, subsidies,
and other support mechanisms, to build their agricultural sectors so that poor
farmers can continue to produce and market staple food crops, can support their
families, and can sustain viable rural communities. The strength and success of
the U.S. agricultural system was achieved in part through policies that
provided extensive support for U.S. farmers over the years. We must find ways
for the governments of the United States and other developed countries to adopt
trade policies that provide special access to their markets for farmers from
the world’s most desperately poor nations and to take steps to promote stable
prices for agricultural goods. Initiatives for fairer trade should be supported
so that trade relationships benefit poor communities, minimize exploitation
through just remuneration, preserve local culture, and promote environmentally
sustainable farming practices. In some instances, developing countries, in
trading agricultural goods among themselves, could benefit from a mutual
reduction in trade barriers.

To protect the health and well-being of all people, trade
policies should provide consistent food safety standards that are open to
public review, are based on internationally accepted scientific criteria, and
are subject to a neutral dispute resolution process. This will ensure that all
farmers are subject to the same standards. To promote adoption of consistent standards
throughout the world, developed nations should provide technical and other
assistance to poorer countries.

All people have a basic human right to a sufficient amount
of safe food to sustain life. Food aid is an essential response to people who
do not have access to adequate food. We encourage more affluent nations,
including the United States, to generously respond to requests for food aid and
to focus their aid on meeting the needs of hungry people, as determined by the
countries in need. Food aid should not be a means for developed nations to
dispose of surplus commodities, create new markets for agricultural products,
displace local food production, or distort world food prices. Food aid programs
should not foster dependency among recipient countries and should be designed
in ways that advance broader food security strategies for poor nations.
Affluent nations and international institutions should support and assist
developing countries in creating strategies to ensure food security for their people.
The governments of developing nations have an obligation to do everything
reasonably possible to overcome hunger. This requires promoting agricultural
development, curbing corruption, and ensuring that food aid actually goes to
the hungry. Sometimes, providing financial assistance to enable food aid
recipients to buy food in regional or international markets might be the best
option.

The decision to accept food aid has been complicated by the
development of new technologies that alter the genetic make-up of some grains
and other foods. Because some of the world’s developed nations will not trade
with countries whose goods are genetically altered, accepting genetically
modified food aid may jeopardize a poor country’s access to important markets.
If genetically altered seeds from food aid are accidentally planted, a
country’s crops may become genetically altered and may no longer be accepted by
some trading partners. Donors should fully inform developing countries when
food aid contains genetically modified crops. We respect the right of sovereign
nations to make decisions about accepting food aid based on their assessment of
the risks to health, the environment, and access to international markets.
However, when the threat of starvation places human lives at risk, and there
are no feasible alternatives, food aid must be made available to hungry people.
In these situations, donors should make every effort to ensure that local crops
are not affected and local concerns are addressed by milling food-aid grains
and other measures.

In an increasingly globalized economy, multinational
corporations provide farmers throughout the world with seeds, credit, marketing
support, transportation, food, and more. While global access to products and
technologies can bring important benefits, it also involves risks that control
over these goods can become concentrated in the hands of a few powerful
corporations and that local control over farming practices may be lost. The
policies of governments and international institutions should promote fair
competition in the agricultural sector while protecting the interests of small
farm owners.

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